1. Field of the Invention
This invention has to do with disk drive suspensions, and more particularly with improvements in the design and structure of disk drive suspension electrical connectors that are used to carry current between a load beam-supported slider and suspension-associated signal circuitry. In a specific aspect, the invention provides a disk drive suspension in which the advantages of metal layer-free flexible conductive laminate segments, including lower cost and easier fabrication in various configurations to meet suspension design needs, are maximally obtained while retaining the benefits of a metal layer containing flexible conductive laminate segment from the load beam rigid portion forward.
2. Related Art
Signal circuitry has been electrically connected to the slider, including the recording head carried by the slider, by various types of electrical connectors including wire bundles and flexible circuitry exclusively or in combination with varying effectiveness and cost efficiencies. There is a considerable cost disparity between the available conductive laminates, the metal layer type conductive laminates being more expensive than the laminates of only trace conductors and an insulative film. Different suspension designs will require that the connector extending between the signal circuitry and the slider be configured differently, and take on unusual shapes in many instances. Configuring these shapes in the conductive laminate connector will often require much waste of material as the needed contours will not always nest or otherwise fall into an economical cutting pattern. In this case the added material costs of the metal layer laminate can be prohibitive. It is, however, often necessary to have the greater stiffness properties of the metal layer containing laminate at the slider or distal end of the suspension.